Anxiety - Acceptance and Management

Catching it Early
If you suffer from chronic anxiety, or panic attacks, there are two generally broad ways to address it.  When you catch it early, there are many ways to manage, it to prevent it from becoming completely overwhelming or exploding into a full blown panic attack. But first, you need to be able to catch it early, which means recognizing the early signs of anxiety that can be unique to the individual.   Some examples of early warning signs that can lead to anxiety include worrying, ruminating thoughts, shallow breathing, light perspiration, lack of sleep, increased stress or unwanted stimulation, poor self-care, dehydration, over-committing yourself, or when your thoughts drift toward the future and are less in the present moment.  Strategies that many find effective who can catch anxiety early include deep breathing, imagery, progressive muscle relaxation, and other mindfulness exercises.  

More Serious Anxiety Attacks
When anxiety is not caught early, symptoms and warning signs can become more severe, leading to full-blown panic attacks.   Common symptoms of heightened anxiety include a sense of dread or impending fear, tightness in chest, tingling in the head or extremities, rapid and/or shallow breathing, rapid heart beat, racing and ruminating thoughts, a sense of helplessness, dizziness or lightheadedness, and sweating.

When symptoms of anxiety are more severe, or if you are experiencing a full-blown panic attack, the key to managing this is not to struggle or become increasingly alarmed as this can actually exacerbate it and make it worse.  The “Oh no, I’m having a panic attack!  I can’t take this! I’ve got to make it stop somehow!” is one of the last things you want to think to yourself as you find that your level anxiety can only increase as a result of this line of thinking.     

Unfortunately this is the experience for many while in a heightened state of anxiety.  While in a full blown panic attack, the event seems to feed on itself, growing in intensity and strength as the sufferer realizes what is happening.  There is an intense need or compulsion to fight against the panic, to desperately do or try anything to avoid what they believe is coming.  Irrational beliefs of a worst case scenario fill the person’s thoughts and can become completely overwhelming; thus launching them into a panic spiral.  The paradoxical thing that happens is that the very struggle to flee anxiety only intensifies the panic, making the symptoms worse, and leaving the person feeling very helpless and powerless to control the anxiety.  While the person attempts to control their anxiety, the act of attempting to regain control, telling themselves to “stop” “relax”, “calm down” l can actually feed the anxiety and make the suffering worse. Sometimes a friend or loved one will say these things too, giving the person experiencing the anxiety attack the impression that its is imperative that they calm down.   I once heard someone say, “Telling someone to relax while experiencing a panic attack is like telling a drowning person to swim.”  

Acceptance & Management (not control)
What many experts in the field now realize is that once anxiety reaches a certain point, it cannot be controlled, per se, but it can be managed and the duration can be greatly reduced, usually through acceptance, recognizing the short-term duration and eventual cessation of an anxiety attack,  and talking yourself through the panic as it happens, recognizing that you are not in imminent harm and that you are not going to die or suffer irreparable injury.   How one manages severe anxiety is important to how effective they can be in doing so. Self-medicating through the use of drugs or alcohol, while offering temporary relief, are ineffective in treating the root of the problem and if fact usually only  make it worse.  Similarly, avoiding anxiety provoking situations only negatively reinforce the anxiety.   Seeking a qualified clinician that is trained in cognitive behavioral therapy specific to anxiety disorders is a good step.  There are also very good self-help books out there to help manage stress and anxiety, including Active Relaxation by Dr. Jennifer Abel, and Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life by Steven Hayes.  

While there are many techniques to help you manage or avoid common anxiety, (too many to list here in fact,) what most have in common is to place one’s efforts in the very place where anxiety starts, irrational thinking.  Consider the quote by Irving Berlin,  “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90 % how you take it.”  Being able to challenge or substitute irrational thoughts with accurate but more realistic ways of thinking can minimize the discomfort that anxiety brings to many lives.  Anxiety is one of many normal emotions that everyone experiences from time to time.  Anxiety can be acknowledged and managed.  Frantic efforts to avoid it only exacerbate and enhance its negative effects.